ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• New poison dart frog species discovered in Donoso, Panama
• Poor fish harvests more frequent now off California coast
• Key reaction for producing 'atmosphere's detergent' observed
• Disease Without Borders: bioregional guide aims to improve human, environmental health
• Young sea stars suffer more from ocean acidification than adults
• With few data, Arctic carbon models lack consensus
• High-throughput cell-sorting method can separate 10 billion bacterial cells in 30 minutes
• No sign of health or nutrition problems from GMO livestock feed, study finds
• Suomi NPP satellite data used for mitigating aviation-related volcanic hazards
• Protecting the body from itself: How defense cells fight disease, but not themselves
• Fertilizer and fuel: Nitrogen-fixing enzyme also produces hydrocarbons
• Antibacterial resistance a cause for major concern, cystic fibrosis experts say
• Rare type of pollen observed at record levels in air for first time in forty years in U.K.
• Green light for clever algae
• How plankton gets jet lagged: Hormone that govern sleep and jet lag in humans also drives mass migration of plankton
• Experts call for widening the debate on climate change
• Computational model: Ebola could infect more than 1.4 million people by end of January 2015
• Sand dunes reveal biodiversity secrets in Australia
• Captive whooping cranes released into the wild
• From rats to humans: Trial will attempt to get paralyzed humans walking again

New poison dart frog species discovered in Donoso, Panama Posted: 26 Sep 2014 06:36 PM PDT A bright orange poison dart frog with a unique call has been discovered in Donoso, Panama. Because this new frog species appears to be found in only a very small area, habitat loss and collecting for the pet trade are major threats to its existence. The authors recommend the formulation of special conservation plans to guarantee its survival.

Poor fish harvests more frequent now off California coast Posted: 26 Sep 2014 11:10 AM PDT In the past 600 years off the California coast, occasional episodes of diminished ocean upwelling that cause fish populations to crash have occurred naturally. The poor yearly fish harvests seen in the last 60 years aren't any worse in severity than earlier, but are happening more frequently.

Key reaction for producing 'atmosphere's detergent' observed Posted: 26 Sep 2014 11:10 AM PDT A rapid atmospheric reaction critical to breaking down pollution in the lab has been observed by chemists. They identify an important intermediate molecule and track its transformation to hydroxyl radicals, also demonstrating the amount of energy necessary for the reaction to take place.

Disease Without Borders: bioregional guide aims to improve human, environmental health Posted: 26 Sep 2014 11:07 AM PDT A bioregional guide that merges place-based (territorial) city planning and ecosystem management along the United States-Mexico border has been launched by experts as way to improve human and environmental health.

Young sea stars suffer more from ocean acidification than adults Posted: 26 Sep 2014 08:21 AM PDT Young sea stars from the Baltic Sea suffer more from the effects of ocean acidification than adults. In a laboratory experiment, scientists showed that younger animals already eat less and grow more slowly at only slightly elevated carbon dioxide concentrations.

With few data, Arctic carbon models lack consensus Posted: 26 Sep 2014 07:18 AM PDT As climate change grips the Arctic, how much carbon is leaving its thawing soil and adding to Earth's greenhouse effect? The question has long been debated by scientists. A new study conducted as part of NASA's Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE) shows just how much work still needs to be done to reach a conclusion on this and other basic questions about the region where global warming is hitting hardest.

High-throughput cell-sorting method can separate 10 billion bacterial cells in 30 minutes Posted: 26 Sep 2014 07:10 AM PDT A new, high-throughput method for sorting cells has been developed, capable of separating 10 billion bacterial cells in 30 minutes. The finding has already proven useful for studying bacterial cells and microalgae, and could one day have direct applications for biomedical research and environmental science -- basically any field in which a large quantity of microbial samples need to be processed.

No sign of health or nutrition problems from GMO livestock feed, study finds Posted: 26 Sep 2014 07:10 AM PDT A new review study finds there is no evidence in earlier scientific studies indicating that genetically engineered feed crops harmed the health or productivity of livestock and poultry, and that food products from animals consuming such feeds were nutritionally the same as products from animals that ate non-GMO feeds.

Suomi NPP satellite data used for mitigating aviation-related volcanic hazards Posted: 26 Sep 2014 06:13 AM PDT A joint NOAA/NASA satellite is one of several satellites providing valuable information to aviators about volcanic hazards.

Protecting the body from itself: How defense cells fight disease, but not themselves Posted: 26 Sep 2014 06:13 AM PDT A clearer relationship between two cells that serve our body's natural defense mechanisms against diseases and infections has now been gained through new research. The findings will help the medical community better understand autoimmunity and could pave the way for treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Fertilizer and fuel: Nitrogen-fixing enzyme also produces hydrocarbons Posted: 26 Sep 2014 05:58 AM PDT Plants need nitrogen and carbon to grow. Photosynthesis allows them to take in the latter directly from the air, but they have to procure nitrogen through their roots in the form of organic molecules like ammonia or urea. Even though nitrogen gas makes up approximately 80 percent of Earth's atmosphere, the plant can only access it in a bound - or 'fixed' - form. Farmers thus use fertilizers to provide their crops with nitrogen. The only living beings that can convert nitrogen from the air into usable molecules are microorganisms - for example nodule bacteria.

Antibacterial resistance a cause for major concern, cystic fibrosis experts say Posted: 26 Sep 2014 05:58 AM PDT In a new paper, world-leading cystic fibrosis experts have called for greater research to address the major concern of antibacterial resistance.

Rare type of pollen observed at record levels in air for first time in forty years in U.K. Posted: 26 Sep 2014 05:58 AM PDT Ragweed, which grows in late-summer and early autumn, is one of the most notorious hayfever-causing plants in North America, but is rarely found in the United Kingdom as it requires long-lasting autumns before the first winter frost to grow and survive. Now, record levels have been recorded for the first time in four decades, say researchers, who warn that mild autumn could mean more misery for hayfever sufferers.

Green light for clever algae Posted: 26 Sep 2014 05:58 AM PDT Phytoplankton not only constitutes the foundation of the food chain in the oceans, it also fixes carbon through photosynthesis and generates oxygen with the help of solar energy. A considerable part of phytoplankton is made up of cryptophytes, complex single-cell algae. In the course of evolution, these algae have adapted their light-harvesting mechanisms to their environment and have thus become capable of utilizing green light.

How plankton gets jet lagged: Hormone that govern sleep and jet lag in humans also drives mass migration of plankton Posted: 26 Sep 2014 05:56 AM PDT A hormone that governs sleep and jet lag in humans may also drive the mass migration of plankton in the ocean, scientists have found. The molecule in question, melatonin, is essential to maintain our daily rhythm, and scientists have now discovered that it governs the nightly migration of a plankton species from the surface to deeper waters. The findings indicate that melatonin's role in controlling daily rhythms probably evolved early in the history of animals, and hold hints to how our sleep patterns may have evolved.

Experts call for widening the debate on climate change Posted: 26 Sep 2014 05:56 AM PDT Environmental scientists are being urged to broaden the advice they give on global climate change, say experts who are also frustrated that decision makers are not taking enough action.

Computational model: Ebola could infect more than 1.4 million people by end of January 2015 Posted: 26 Sep 2014 05:55 AM PDT The Ebola epidemic could claim hundreds of thousands of lives and infect more than 1.4 million people by the end of January, according to a statistical forecast released this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC forecast supports the drastically higher projections released earlier by a group of scientists, including epidemiologists with the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, who modeled the Ebola spread as part of a National Institutes of Health-sponsored project called Midas, short for Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study.

Sand dunes reveal biodiversity secrets in Australia Posted: 25 Sep 2014 03:27 PM PDT Ancient, acidic and nutrient-depleted dunes in Western Australia are not an obvious place to answer a question that has vexed tropical biologists for decades. But the Jurien Bay dunes proved to be the perfect site to unravel why plant diversity varies from place to place. Scientists show that environmental filtering -- but not a host of other theories -- determines local plant diversity in one of Earth's biodiversity hotspots.

Captive whooping cranes released into the wild Posted: 24 Sep 2014 01:05 PM PDT Four whooping crane chicks raised in captivity began their integration into the wild as part of the continuing effort to increase the wild population of this endangered species.

From rats to humans: Trial will attempt to get paralyzed humans walking again Posted: 24 Sep 2014 11:49 AM PDT A completely paralyzed rat can be made to walk over obstacles and up stairs by electrically stimulating the severed part of the spinal cord. Scientists discovered how to control in real-time how the rat moves forward and how high it lifts its limbs. Now a new lab will extend this technology to human patients as early as next summer.

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